PORT ANGELES — More than 30 years in, and Ron Jones’ music career continues to crescendo.
The Port Angeles High School orchestra teacher will be inducted into the Washington Music Educators Association’s hall of fame on Friday.
Jones, 55, has advocated for music education on the state and local levels over the course of his career — and said he believes it’s a big reason why he was chosen for the honor.
“To me it’s important the orchestra survives,” Jones said.
“I don’t think people fully comprehend the program could be gone in the blink of an eye.”
Throughout the 1970s, Jones said he witnessed the death of high school orchestra programs across the state, including the one at his alma mater, Pasco High School.
When Jones arrived at Port Angeles High School in 1975, the orchestra program was on the brink of extinction.
He was only 24 and a recent graduate of Western Washington University when he accepted the teaching position.
Jones said he started under orders from school administrators that the then 56-year-old program would be cut within three years if he couldn’t make it work.
However, Jones revived the ailing program, and through community support he convinced district officials to keep it going.
The program is now in its 86th year, and Jones has hung a picture of the school’s first orchestra from 1919 on his office wall with pride.
Some of his current students tease him by trying to guess which person he is in the photograph, Jones said.
Jones also has fought at the state level to help music students in Port Angeles achieve their goals.
After realizing the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association was only reimbursing schools for sports, speech and debate activities, Jones raised his voice and got funding for music students in West Central District III.
The district includes schools in Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap and Pierce counties.
The association reimburses schools for transportation and housing if their students make it to the state competition.
District III schools are the only ones in the state to receive reimbursements for its music students, Jones said.
“I’m not afraid to speak my mind, and speak my mind loudly,” he said.
All the years of standing up to the association landed him a seat on its state board three years ago, he said.
